Lamp assemblies are widely used in motor vehicles. Such assemblies generally include a lamp housing defining an inner space within which a light emitting unit, such as a light bulb, is placed and a lens member interposed between the light emitting unit and the exterior of the housing. It is desirable for the lens member to be mounted so that it can be removed easily for replacement of the light or other periodic maintenance, and so that when reassembled, it will seal the interior of the housing against weather and debris.
Prior art lamp assemblies utilize a variety of attachment methods and schemes to mount the lens members onto lamp housings. Most of the attachment methods employ mechanical means such as retaining rings, clips and spring arms (U.S. Pat. Nos. 870,535, No. 2,943, 187, No. 2,499,555 and No. 4,779,180). Such assemblies are relatively expensive to manufacture, since they involve multiple separate parts that must be assembled together. Other attachment methods involve gluing the parts together with cement or epoxy (U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,551). Cement and epoxy mounting are also undesirable because of the permanent nature of the attachment and the prolonged production cycle time due to the curing requirements. U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,321 to Magi and No. 5,119,282 to Meyer each disclose a lamp assembly with a snap-in lens member. Magi's design involves many precision parts; and additionally, once the lens is snapped-in, it is difficult to dissemble. Meyer's design is relatively simple, involving the use of an annular groove on the lamp housing to retain the lens element. Meyer's design, however, requires the lamp housing to be made of a resilient or flexible material and additionally, makes no provision for protecting the interior environment of the lamp assembly.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a system for mounting a lens member onto a lamp housing such that the lens member can be easily installed and removed.
It is another object of this invention to provide a snap-in installation of the lens member directly onto the lamp housing without the need for separate installation of additional parts.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a weatherproof lamp assembly which includes a sealing member for the protection of the interior of the lamp assembly.